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India Tour Of South Africa 2013-14

India Tour Of South Africa 2013-14 will begin on Thursday, December 5, 2013 in South Africa as per cricket schedule announced.

South Africa vs India 2013 is an international Bilateral Series to be organized by South Africa. India tour of South Africa 2013-14 will consist of 3 ODI and 2 Test to be hosted by South Africa in December 2013.

The South Africa vs India 2013 Bilateral Series will comes to end on Dec 30, 2013.

India squad for the three-match One-Day International series and two tests against South Africa has been announced. There are no big surprises in store unlike in the Test squad, where Ambati Rayudu has been included. Rayudu features in the ODI squad as well.

The MS Dhoni led the team which will start with the ODI series in Johannesburg on December 5. They then play the next two ODIs in Durban on December 8 and in Centurion on December 11.

The first Test will also be played in Johannesburg starting from December 18. The second and final Test will be played at Kingsmead in Durban and that will start on December 26.

Zaheer Khan has been recalled to the India Test squad for the forthcoming tour of South Africa. Zaheer is one of five fast bowlers for the two-Test series, and the only newcomer to the 17-member squad is the batsman Ambati Rayudu. However, there was no place for the opener Gautam Gambhir, who scored a century for Delhi in the Ranji Trophy days before the selection meeting.

Zaheer, who last played for India during the home Tests against England last December, was recently omitted from the list of centrally contracted players for the current season. The injury-prone left-arm seamer made a return to the longer format this season with 13 wickets in three Ranji games for Mumbai, including a five-wicket haul. However, he was not considered for the one-day squad. Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh – two other players who were not handed central contracts – have been left out of both squads.

The Test squad also has Wriddhiman Saha as the backup wicketkeeper for MS Dhoni, the captain. Saha last played for India during the Adelaide Test of 2012. Ravindra Jadeja, the allrounder, returns after sitting out the West Indies Tests to rest his injured shoulder. He is the third spinner in the squad after R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha.

Rayudu, 28, made his international debut during the one-day tour of Zimbabwe in August, where he scored one fifty. Amit Mishra, the legspinner, remains in the one-day team but was not included for the Tests.

The surprise inclusion in the one-day squad is the fast bowler Ishant Sharma, who was expensive during the seven-match ODI series against Australia recently. Ishant leaked 189 runs in three matches and was dropped after he conceded a whopping 30 runs in one over, which cost India the Mohali ODI. Ishant was part of the Test squad against West Indies but lost his place to the impressive Mohammed Shami, playing his first Test series.

Ishant and fast bowler Umesh Yadav were included in the one-day squad in place of seamers Jaydev Unadkat and Vinay Kumar. Batsman Ajinkya Rahane has been included in both squads.

The tour gets underway with the first of three ODIs starting December 5, followed by the two Tests.

The All-India Senior Selection Committee met in Vadodara earlier today, to pick the Indian teams for the ODI series and Test series against South Africa, respectively.